George Biggin

George Biggin was born in Dore on 25 th July 1891. He was the fifth child of Thomas Biggin and his wife Selina, neé Lowe. He attended Dore School from August 1896 to July 1904. By the time of the 1911 census, the family was living on Townhead Road – probably in the cottage in Barker’s Row where they were living during the War. Thomas was working as a domestic gardener, and George, aged 20, was a horseman on a farm.

Although it is not known when George joined the Army, we know that he served as a Private (Regimental Numbers 4936, 241908) in A Company of the 1/5th battalion of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) – originally a Territorial Force battalion. He was killed in action on 19 th July 1917, aged 26, and buried in Ramscappelle Road Military Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. His headstone bears the inscription: “WHEN I LEFT HOME I LITTLE THOUGHT THAT MY RACE WAS SO NEAR RUN”.

George was posthumously awarded the Victory and British War Medals. He was commemorated in a memorial service held at Christ Church, Dore, at 3 o’clock on Sunday 30th July 1917.

The Sheffield Evening Telegraph of 20th July 1918 carries an ‘in memoriam’ notice for George and his brother Rowland from ‘their loving Father and Mother, Brothers and Sister, and George’s sweetheart, Elsie’ – a sad reminder that, in addition to the many widows created by the War, many other women lost the men they loved and might have expected to marry.